The Big Debate back for a 9th season with Redi Tlhabi from Sunday 10 March on SABC2 and SABC News.

The Big Debate is returning for a 9th season from Sunday, 10 March at 19:00 and will be broadcast on SABC2, SABC News (DStv 404), SAfm and the SABC News YouTube channel - again with Redi Tlhabi as the moderator of the "town hall style" talk show.

The 8th season of the debate show, from Broad Daylight Films Foundation and executive produced by Ben Cashdan, was also broadcast on SABC2 and SABC News as a live show, including on the SABC's radio station, SAfm, but it's not clear whether episodes will again be done live or are pre-recorded.

Studio guests and invited guests will once again be sitting in the show's well-known five-ringed seating pattern, and some of the The Big Debate topics this season will be centred around South Africa's upcoming national elections taking place on 8 May.

On Wednesday SABC2 was asked for more information about the upcoming season of The Big Debate starting in 3 days. The channel told TVwithThinus it's still working on it.

The SABC replaces the cancelled JJ Tabane and Frankly Speaking on SABC News and SABC3 with a new Sunday night talk show, Unfiltered with Redi Tlhabi.

The SABC is replacing the dumped JJ Tabane and his abruptly cancelled Frankly Speaking on Sunday nights with a new talk show, Unfiltered starting this Sunday at 20:30 with Redi Tlhabi.

Redi Tlhabi returned to the SABC and as the host of The Big Debate "town hall" discussion show for its 8th season in late-2017.

Like Frankly Speaking, Unfiltered will be shown on SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC3 simultaneously.

While the embattled SABC last week placed a freeze on all hiring as it has started a possible massive retrenchment process to bring its huge wage bill of R3.1 billion down, the broadcaster has now brought in Redi Tlhabi to present Unfiltered that it says is "part of the SABC's efforts to attract top talent to enhance and strengthen audience experience, in line with its turnaround plan".

Two weeks ago the SABC abruptly and quietly cancelled Frankly Speaking with the former spin doctor JJ Tabane who was also fired by the MSG Africa owned radio station Power FM where he was the Power Perspective presenter.

During the testimony of the ongoing state capture inquiry, Phumla Williams, then as acting head of the GCIS, spoke about the horrific things she endured under the disgraced former communications minister, Faith Muthambi.

JJ Tabane as a spin doctor helped Faith Muthambi as part of one of her advisory panels.

In a tweet JJ Tabane said "Sorry to Phumla Williams for having been complicit in your oppression by Faith Muthambi. I am ashamed of any role I had in it. Ready to appear before Zondo to testify."

A fight then ensued with Chris Vick, who took JJ Tabane to task, saying "But you used to work for Faith Muthambi when she was communications minister, bro. Didn’t you set up that huge advisory panel for her (the one I resigned from) and write those ridiculous opinion pieces in her name? Weren’t you advising her?"

The SABC says Unfiltered will "boldly tackle the broad spectrum of issues affecting South Africans, including crime, corruption, education, politics as well as economic and social issues".

Phathiswa Magopeni, the head of SABC news and current affairs, says "SABC News is taking an unrestrained, courageous and forthright approach to discussing tough issues facing South African citizens daily".

"Redi is a dynamic and versatile journalist who fits the profile of the show and our editorial character very well. We are happy to welcome her back as part of the SABC News team."

Redi Tlhabi, with a BA Communications and honours degree in English literature and currently working on a masters degree in gender and politics, says "I have always responded positively to conversations that help us confront the ills of our society and affirm our quest for justice, democracy and accountability. It is with that vision that I begin this new chapter with the SABC".

The Big Debate bursts back onto the SABC, with - surprise! - Redi Tlhabi.

The Big Debate has suddenly burst back onto the SABC, instantly becoming the biggest symbol of the public broadcaster’s top executives to signal their serious effort to regain public trust in its current affairs offering and to try and repair it severely dented news output credibility.

As surprising and astounding, is that none other that the veteran and extremely skilled presenter and interviewer Redi Tlhabi is suddenly back as the moderator after she anchored the earlier seasons.

The Big Debate, with several significant updates for the social media and internet age, made its 8th season debut on the exact SABC TV channel – SABC2 – where it disappeared from exactly four years ago.

Asked how the revival of The Big Debate on the SABC came about, Thabiso Bhengu, senior content producer on the show, told the SABC’s Morning Live this week that “when a notorious somebody left the SABC, the SABC was happy to have us back”.

“And we’re happy to be helping the SABC to become what it should be, which is the best public broadcaster in the world,” he said.

In November 2013 The Big Debate – just before it was supposed to start and with three episodes of its 5th season already filmed – was abruptly yanked and permanently removed from the SABC2 schedule just days before broadcast, including an episode devoted to the Marikana Massacre.

The debate show, from Broad Daylight Films Foundation and and executive produced by Ben Cashdan, was culled from the SABC airwaves on the direct orders of the then acting chief operating officer (COO), Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

At the time Hlaudi Motsoeneng was only in the beginning phase of what was to become a sweeping, widening and pervasive censorship drive by the controversial executive.

His later-described “reign of terror” would eventually see the SABC impose draconian newsroom censorship that extended to, and ended with, his shocking ban in 2016 on showing visuals on SABC News of the destruction of property and infrastructure during public protests.   

The SABC said at the time that The Big Debate was “incorrectly commissioned and compromised the editorial oversight of the SABC newsroom”.

The SABC-neutered season of The Big Debate was instantly picked up by eNCA (DStv 403) and e.tv that broadcast three seasons of the lively town hall debate type show that ended with a 7th season in 2016 with Masechaba Lekalake as moderator.

A bold, brazen return of free speech

Now The Big Debate is “back” on SABC2 as a hard-hitting current affairs talk show that had no less than the topic of “State Capture” for its first new episode.

It is something that would have been unheard of on the SABC of just a year ago, with widely disparate guests on The Big Debate ranging from Floyd Shivambu (EFF deputy president) and Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi (ANN7 owner) to Vytjie Mentor (former ANC chief whip) – all sitting and debating each other passionately in the black backdrop studio interspersed with a few banners.

“We invited the president, we invited the Guptas, we invited Brian Molefe, so that they can also contribute to this narrative,” said Redi Tlhabi in a refreshing frankness on the SABC airwaves.

“They didn’t take up the invitation. When people are not here it is not because we don’t want to hear them. But for some reason they don’t want to participate in this debate,” she said.

With the show’s bold and brazen return, the SABC is sending a very strong signal and a significant marker that the struggling public broadcaster is working hard on turning around the erosion the past few years of its current affairs programming and news, and the trust in it.

The Big Debate made its debut on Saturday evening and surprised when it started with moderator Redi Tlhabi, who recently left her perch behind the Radio 702 microphone and said that she plans to go to America for further academic studies.

Redi Tlhabi was one of the original moderators of the show’s early seasons before Siki Mgabadeli and Masechaba Lekalake took over, with nobody that ever expected her to return.

As an assertive and extremely knowledgeable and experienced interviewer, the well-liked moderator on Saturday evening brought her credibility and cache to bear on the show, with Redi Tlhabi who instantly elevated the SABC’s current affairs credibility despite The Big Debate being slotted into a doldrum timeslot on television’s least watched day of the week.

Like democracy the first live broadcast episode of The Big Debate was a loud, zany, almost ungovernable, glorious mess.

Sound and some other production problems didn’t dim the cacophony of voices, all excitedly reaching for the roving mic and speaking up with varying opinions while the positive and critical comments of viewers scrolled by.

Some people unexpectedly got up and walked off set despite the floor manager telling them to remain seated. Cellphones rang. It was the most alive, unvarnished and authentic a current affairs TV viewers have seen on the SABC in years.

Big changes

Although already done by commercial broadcasters but with the resource scarce and cash-strapped SABC lagging behind, The Big Debate’s latest season marks a dramatic departure from existing SABC current affairs shows, and is a big improvement and a big step forward for SABC public audience interaction and participation.

For the first time, The Big Debate, done from Shine Studios in Johannesburg, is being broadcast live. It enables social media users to interact directly with the show by sending comments and questions that are being scrolled on screen.

With studio guests sitting in the show’s well-known five-ringed seating pattern, The Big Debate, besides being shown on SABC2, is also being simulcast at the same time on SABC News (DStv 404), as well as on the SABC radio station, SAfm, unlocking bigger public broadcasting synergy.

After the scheduled hour long episode of the show is over, The Big Debate now also continues seamlessly for another hour as a streaming show on YouTube with the various studio guests answering questions and making more comments.

The show also has a call-in hotline for the first time with viewers who can leave Whatsapp voice notes with the producers saying they’re listening to each and every one of them.

Also back, in a sense – and helping to elevate the SABC’s quality of broadcasting although they’re not working for the SABC – are several SABC and SABC News veterans working behind the scenes on the production, like Crystal Orderson for instance as one of the content producers.

The new The Big Debate season on the SABC will cover several topics that might seem mundane or well-worn if the show were broadcast elsewhere but that are literally breath-taking and highly notable given that it will be on the public broadcaster.

Upcoming issues that will be tackled include topics like radical economic transformation (“RET”) this Saturday and in 2018 even the controversial nuclear deal.

SABC2 will broadcast a second episode of The Big Debate this coming Saturday and then go on a production hiatus before returning in February 2018 for the remainder of the season.

Uzalo co-producers Pepsi Pokane says R14 000 per minute production cost for Durban soap is 'industry standard'; Gugu Zuma-Ncube says she's 'used in political fights'.

Uzalo co-producer and co-owner Kobedi "Pepsi" Pokane says the R14 000 per minute price tag to make the SABC's expensive hit Uzalo is "industry standard", while the other co-producer and co-owner Gugu Zuma-Ncube also lashed out saying "I'm still being used in political fights that have nothing to do with me" and that Uzalo is currently the TV show that bring in the most advertising revenue for the SABC.

The Sunday Times yesterday reported that the SABC confirmed that its famously matricless and scandal-riddled chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng  single-handedly overturned a panel decision not to renew the expensive soap shot in Durban that is co-produced and co-owned by president Jacob Zuma's daughter, Gugu Zuma-Ncube.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng defied an earlier decision by a 6-person SABC panel in April 2015, including executives Clara Nzima, Maretha Bakkes, Vanessa Jansen and Reneilwe Sema who decided that the SABC will not to continue with the extremely expensive three episodes a week soap produced in Durban by Stained Glass Pictures.

Uzalo, funded to the tune of millions of rands by the SABC as well as the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government where there's been vocal objections about it in its legislature the past year, is currently the most watched soap and TV show out of all programming on the SABC, and also the most watched TV programme in all of South Africa television.

On Monday morning on radio 702, Pepsi Pokane told presenter Redi Tlhabi that "pressure from the sales division of the SABC ccame into play and questions were asked. Why was this review panel held in the absence of certain key members of management that should have been on the review panel?"

"How is it that a show that is reviving the fortunes of SABC1 in terms of revenue alongside Generations and Skeem Saam is being cancelled? These are all questions that were apparently asked internally and then the question came up: What is the motivation for cancelling the show if it ticks all the boxes? That is where the reversal came into play," said Pepsi Pokane.

Pepsi Pokane said Uzalo's production budget of R14 000 is normal. "I challenge any producer out there to come and tell me that R14 000 is too much. We are getting R14 000 a minute. That is industry standard."

Gugu Zuma-Ncube also put the issue on blast, responding on social media with tweets saying "Uzalo was recommissioned because we broke all viewership records in our timeslot. We were and continue to be the number 1 show in South Africa".

She said "it is more expensive to produce television in Durban than it is to produce television in Johannesburg".

Gugu Zuma-Ncube said Uzalo is the TV show that brings in the most advertising revenue for the SABC and that in four years Uzalo will produce 628 episodes. "I can't help who my parents are. But what I have always done is to put my head down and and I work harder than everyone around me".

She said that "literally being the best at what I do doesn't matter. I'm still being used in political fights that have nothing to do with me".

'THE DUMBER THE BETTER'? Broadcasting Complaints Commission finds that 702's Redi Tlhabi is allowed to criticise and call the government stupid.

Radio woman Redi Tlhabi is allowed to critise the South African government and can say that when it comes to government leadership it looks like a case of the dumber the better.

In a case brought before the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA), it ruled that Redi Tlhabi and talk radio station 702 has the right to give her view in an open, democratic society.

A listener, Esethu Hasane, spokesperson for the department of sport and recreation, laid a complaint against Redi Tlhabi after an open call-in segment on radio 702 in late January – the type of open line call-in's now incidentally banned by the SABC for listeners who want to talk politics.

Redi Hasane, a university graduate working in government, told the BCCSA that Redi Tlhabi's comment was offensive, condescending and degrading to the dignity of the complainant. He said "commentators get away with many things in the name of criticising president Zuma. They make a living of criticising people but don't want to be critisiced".

Redi Tlhabi did the call-in segment after president Jacob Zuma's shocking firing of Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister. She referred to Zuma's statement in December 2015 in Mpumalanga that "the people should not pay attention to people who talk too much on television because educated black people think they are clever".

When a caller asked Redi Tlhabi why the South African government doesn't consult intellectuals, Redi Tlhabi said that "they are intimidated, they told them they are clever blacks and because somehow clever people are dangerous to leadership, the dumber the better".

"I think they are there, they're writing, they're speaking, they're joining protests, and all of that and of course we have an anti-intellectual leadership".

Hasane took offense but the BCCSA found that Redi Tlhabi's show is "aimed at sophisticated, intelligent members of the public who are likely to know, understand and appreciate" that her comments are often provocative and argumentative.

'Constitution guarantees her freedom of expression'

Esethu Hasane lodged a case at the BCCSA, saying Redi Tlhabi's comments suggested that there is an absence of intellectuals in the leadership of the country and that "the dumber the better" is the requirement to be in that leadership.

"It can't be okay for a radio host to say 'the dumber the better' about the leadership of our country like it was not okay for that eNCA anchor [Andrew Barnes] to mock the minister's pronunciation of an English word. I would imagine that if Redi was a white lady, she was not going to get away with saying that the leadership of our country is dumb".

The BCCSA found that "Redi Tlhabi's comments may have been offensive and elitist but the fact of the matter is that the Constitution guarantees her freedom of expression to receive or impart information or ideas".

"Inasmuch as Hasane has a constitutional right to freedom of expression, so too does Redi Tlhabi enjoy the same right".

"The right to freedom of expression is not dependent on the dissemanation of acceptable or rational ideas only; indeed it extends to opinion or views that might be anathema to those who occupy influential positions in society or in institutions," the BCCSA found.

The BCCSA found that the Redi Tlhabi's 702 programme did not contravene the Broadcasting Code and the complaint was not upheld.

Programming note: Redi Tlhabi on South 2 North on Friday night on Al Jazeera looks at the global epidemic of sexual violence against women.

Redi Tlhabi in her global talk show South 2 North on Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / TopTV 401) tonight at 21:30 (repeated on Saturday at 16:30 and Sunday 06:30) will be discussing the global rape epidemic.

South 2 North guests for this week's episode include professor Ratna Kapur, professor Farid Esack and dr. Amelia Kleijn.and will be tackling the issue of how to stop the global epidemic of sexual violence against women.

This coming Thursday, 101 East on Al Jazeera will broadcast a 30 minute film which speaks to men who admit to rape and violence against women and asks what it will take to change attitudes.

TOLDJA! Redi Tlhabi back on TV as global talk show host with new show South 2 North starting on Al Jazeera on 30 November at 21:30.

You're reading it here first. 

TV with Thinus exclusively broke the news way back in June that Redi Tlhabi is readying a TV comeback with her own new global TV talkshow on Al Jazeera - 5 months later everything I reported is happening exactly as I said in June and I can be first to reveal that Redi Tlhabi's new global talk show on Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / TopTV 401) will be titled South 2 North and will start on 30 November at 21:30.

Redi Tlhabi (formerly Redi Direko) made a splash first on South African television - first on SABC3, then on the eNews Channel, now eNCA (DStv 403) where she was the co-anchor of the news channel's flagship weekday news show News Night with Jeremy Maggs.

She bowed out of television citing tiredness and work pressure and has since been an influential radio talk show host and also did a local profile interview and talk show series on the Mzansi Magic channel.

The past few months Redi Tlhabi and Al Jazeera has been working on her TV comeback and this time on a global scale.

Here is what I can reveal: South 2 North with Redi Tlhabi will be a weekly talkshow presented from South Africa, and with Redi Tlhabi focusing on "inspiring and intriguing guests" from across the world.

South 2 North will be done from a specially built brand-new studio right above the Wits Arts Museum from where Redi Tlhabi in her new perch with bring a mix of current affairs and intelligent conversation to viewers. "No subject will be off limits,"

BREAKING. Redi Tlhabi readying her TV return with a possible brand-new global TV talk show series on Al Jazeera done from Johannesburg.

You're reading it here first. 

Redi Tlhabi has been working on making a possible TV comeback in the form of a brand-new talk show series on Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / TopTV 401), the global 24 hour news channel revealed during its industry presentation in Cape Town on Monday evening.

Redi Tlhabi (formerly Redi Direko) made a splash first on South African television - first on SABC3, then on the eNews Channel (DStv 403) where she was the co-anchor of the news channel's flagship weekday news show News Night with Jeremy Maggs.

She bowed out of television citing tiredness and work pressure and has since been an influential radio talk show host and also did a local profile interview and talk show series on Mzansi Magic (DStv 107).

Now Redi Tlhabi is readying her return to television.

"We're been piloting a new talk show from Johannesburg for a global audience with Redi Tlhabi. You know her? Redi Direko," Jon Blair, Al Jazeera English commissioning editor told the crowd on Monday evening.


ALSO READ: A tale of 2 channels: Two news channels held industry presentations today - but while Al Jazeera shined, BBC World News was clearly clueless.
ALSO READ: Al Jazeera at its industry presentation says that unlike the BBC, it is not closing its news bureau in South Africa.
ALSO READ: A new 3 part documentary series currently being filmed in Cape Town, Tutu's Children, to be shown on Al Jazeera towards the end of 2012.
ALSO READ: Al Jazeera: "We want to be the voice of the voiceless," says the global news channel as it starts to transitions away from all the Sturm Und Drang.